Just between us
by Wallflow3r1
Summary: Beth wants something from Daryl and he's more than happy to let her take it.
1. Take

The tension in Daryl's hunched shoulders is killing him, and his jaw is starting to ache from scowling. When he told Beth he was tired of losing people that was an understatement. He's beyond frustrated; he's _raging_. It's the kind that killing walkers won't fix, but he's been trying his best. Spent all day yesterday on the fence trying. Hershel called him a _diligent young man_ , the wily old timer. He's keeping busy, it helps with the guilt. The guilt he feels every time he makes it back from a run and has to tell someone's family they didn't make it. That he lost them. It sounds so _careless_. What Daryl needs is a distraction.

He's hauling a mattress across the cell block when he hears the door creak open. Between the Woodbury residents and the people he keeps finding outside, it's getting cosy in their cell block. A little too cosy by the way these Woodbury folk keep shacking up, and hell if he's going to listen to them fucking all night long. He didn't even wait to bring it up at the council meeting, just picked a cell block and got to work. They'd cleared out the dead when they took the prison so, after checking it was still clear, it's just a case of relocating the mattresses strewn across the cell block back into their cells. The thin prison issue mattresses are so light he doesn't even break a sweat as he tosses the bedding onto the top bunk and turns.

Daryl is surprised to see that it's Beth who walks through the door. He's surprised to see another person in this part of the prison at all since he didn't bother telling anyone what he was doing. He's even more surprised when she closes the door behind her.

There's a directness in her gait as she walks towards him, pinning him in place with her focused gaze. Ever since he stopped by her cell to tell her about Zach and she wrapped her arms around him, pressing her body flush against his chest, he hasn't been able to get her off his mind. Maybe it's because they had a moment of shared understanding. Maybe it's because instead of crying when she heard about Zach like he'd expected her to, she just coolly flipped her days without an accident sign. As he watches her approach it's clear she's here with a purpose and his stomach tightens in anticipation.

"I've seen the way you've been lookin' at me, Daryl," She says, coming to a stop directly in front of him and holding his gaze with her piercing blue eyes.

 _Shit._

He wasn't expecting that and in his surprise all he can do is continue staring back at her, heart flying in his chest.

"I've seen it 'cause I've been lookin' at you too," She says, the tease of a smile curling the corners of her mouth.

Daryl is still letting her words sink in like a ton of bricks, when she crosses her arms in front of her and pulls her vest up over her head, leaving her in just a simple cotton bra. As she kicks off her boots and begins unfastening her belt Daryl starts, the gentle clink of her buckle ringing like an alarm bell in his ears.

" _Girl_ , are you out of your damn mind?"He growls, stumbling backwards, hands flying up in the air as the sight of her cotton panties sends him into full blown panic.

Beth stops, a crease forming in her otherwise smooth, pale forehead.

"It's ok, no one is gonna come," She blinks up at him slowly.

When Daryl just continues to stare back at her with wide eyes and a tightly clenched jaw, Beth sighs. She takes her hands from her belt, and rests one on the curve of her hip.

"Listen, I like sex," She explains flatly, tilting her head in thinly veiled exasperation. "You've got a pretty amazin' body," Her eyes drift down, lingering on his biceps, his clenching fists causing them to pulse.

"An' you don't talk too much," Beth rolls a bare shoulder, making her sharp collar bones stand out and catch in the light. Daryl draws in a slow breath, eyes narrowing back at hers.

 _She's here for sex? With him? Is this some kind of joke?_

"It'll be just between us an' I'm not lookin' for a boyfriend or nothin'," Beth adds, her expression completely neutral as though telling him what he needs to pick on a run.

Daryl feels his heartrate start to slow, his panic lessening and his brain starting to whirr as he tries to wrap his mind around her proposal.

 _She's here for sex. With him._

"That work for you?" She asks, all too casually.

Struck dumb by her bluntness, Daryl just gawps at her in disbelief. His mouth fallen open, but no words coming out.

His silence doesn't seem to faze her though as she continues rolling her jeans past her thighs, pushing them down and off her slim legs.

"Take your jeans off and sit on the bed, we haven't got much time," She instructs, lifting her chin towards the cell behind him.

He does as he's told because _why the hell wouldn't he?_ But also there's a part of him that thinks she'll take the offer elsewhere if he says no and for some reason he really doesn't want her to do that.

When he looks up, she's padding across the cell towards him on bare feet, completely naked with just a condom in her hand. His breath hitches as she straddles his lap, the smooth skin of her inner thighs hot against his. He's halfway hard from just looking at her, but she wraps her delicate fingers around his cock. He grunts, letting his head fall back against the wall as she works him up until he can feel drops of pre cum beading along his slit. Her hand disappears for a moment, leaving his dick bobbing between them as she opens the condom with an audible rip that seems to echo in the silent cells.

" _Fuck_ ," He hisses as she rolls the rubber down his fully erect cock, pressing her thumb to the tip to push the air out.

She wastes no time at all in pulling herself up by his shoulders. With one hand curled around his shoulder and the other guiding his desperately hard cock, she lowers herself into his lap.

"Jesus _Christ_ girl, you're tight," He groans, hands coming up to grab her waist as she sinks down slowly, burying his cock inside her tight walls.

"Shut up," She whispers breathlessly, pushing her hips forward and taking every inch he has to give her.

 _No talking,_ Daryl takes note. The side of his mouth twitches at the way she's bossing him around, and how much he finds himself liking it.

She rides him _hard._ She rides him like he's a colt she's trying to break in. Grinding down so that his public bone massages her clit. Her eyes are closed, lips slightly parted and he can't help wondering what she's thinking. If she's thinking anything at all, or just losing herself in the rush.

Daryl may have fucked before but he's never _been fucked_ the way she's fucking him right now. Her hips are frenzied, rocking her up and down his cock so fast he's delirious. He didn't know anything could feel so damn good, it's like he doesn't know his own dick.

When his mouth finds her neck she turns his face away, fingers pushing his cheek roughly. _No kissing_ either then.

He looks down and watches her pert little tits jiggle as she moves up and down, nipples rosy and peaked with her arousal. He wants to take one in his mouth and suck it, feel the pebbled nub against his tongue, but he isn't sure if he's allowed. It occurs to him that she's completely naked when she doesn't need to be. He has no idea if that's an invitation to touch her or not though, sucking his bottom lip into his mouth as he plays it safe.

It's been a _long_ time and combined with the way her tight pussy is clutching his cock he's worried for a moment that he might embarrass himself by blowing his load in the first minute. That wouldn't go down well. It's clear this is about getting her off, not him. He knows she will be decidedly unimpressed if he finishes before she does and there's a very real possibility he won't be able to look her in the eye ever again.

Screwing his eyes shut, he thinks of the walker he saw on the fence yesterday. The thing had half its face hanging off. Nasty shit. Imagining the way its rancid flesh hung suspended from its jaw keeps his orgasm at bay long enough for him to hold out until he feels her pussy walls begin to flutter around his dick. A little grunt makes its way out of her throat as she comes, sending a sharp burst of air streaming across his temple.

Spurred on by her climax, he tightens his hands on her hips and fucks up into her, enjoying the way she gasps as he hammers her trembling cunt.

With a growl, he leans forward and closes his mouth around the pebbled nipple dancing in front of his face.

Beth lets out a high pitched moan, her pussy walls shuddering violently around his cock and dragging his orgasm out of him. He groans around her nipple, teeth pressing into the soft tissue of her breast. With one last hard thrust his hips stutter and stop as his hot come pours out of him and fills the condom inside her. She collapses heavily onto his shoulder and his arm wraps around her, cradling her against his chest.

When his hand starts to softly stroke the bare skin of her back she suddenly slides off him and starts to dress without a word.

 _No cuddling_. _Got it._

He watches her for a moment, his chest heaving with ragged pants as he catches his breath. Her back is turned to him as she pulls on her clothes.

He shuffles forward, pulling the condom off with a wince as it drags over the sensitive head of his spent cock. Dragging his jeans up, he worries his bottom lip as he watches her intently. She's not quite rushing but it's clear she isn't hanging around either.

He pushes himself up just as she spins around, suddenly bringing them nose to nose.

Beth's piecing blue eyes widen for a split second before she catches herself. Daryl's never seen that colour blue, complimented by the flush in her cheeks.

"Thank you," She says a little stiffly and with enough finality to inform him she's done here.

Daryl scoffs, bringing his thumb up to catch the nail between his teeth.

Her eyes narrow.

"What?"

He lets his hand drop to the side and looks up at her through his hair.

"You think you're gonna wanna do that again?" He murmurs, his voice husky with dehydration or some newly awakened lust, maybe both.

She looks him up and down for a moment, as though considering it. The side of her mouth pulls up.

"Sure. Why not," She shrugs.

Daryl feels the absence of tension in his shoulders as he tilts his head back, holding her gaze with a simmering heat, a crooked smile replacing his set frown.

" _Good_ ," He rumbles.

And when he drags his tongue across his bottom lip her eyes follow and flicker.


	2. Kiss

Daryl hasn't been able to get his mind, or his eyes, off Beth since their encounter in the cell block.

He's seeing her in a whole new light. Seeing things he hadn't noticed before, and now that he can't stop noticing them they're a constant tease. Like the way that her round ass, the one he felt beneath his rough palms, fills out her jeans perfectly. Or the way that her pointed nipples, which he hungrily sucked into his mouth, pebble against her tank top.

Every time he looks at her he thinks about how she'd said she wanted to do it again and then he wonders why again isn't _right fucking now._

He hopes he was good enough that it'll be soon. He's beginning to worry that she's changed her mind, or worse, found someone else to meet her needs. He's even beginning to worry that he imagined the whole damn thing.

Then, late one night when he's half asleep, she visits him in his cell. She's silent as she phases through the privacy curtain in nothing but a thin green chemise, revealing legs that go on for days.

He's lying on his bunk with his arm pillowed behind his head as he watches her climb up onto the foot of his bed. He almost doesn't believe his eyes; he must be dreaming. Her hair is loose, falling in waves around her collar bones like spun gold. Her blue eyes are luminous, catching strips of pale moonlight that fall through the bars.

Without a single word, she straddles his waist. He feels his heartbeat quicken as she takes the condom she's clutching in her fist between her teeth. Her delicate fingers make fast work of unfastening his jeans. He hears the clink of his belt as he stares, transfixed at where her pink lips are closed around the plastic square. His strained gasp fills the room as her warm fingers wrap around his cock and she pulls him out.

If she's surprised to find him not wearing any underwear, she doesn't show it. She does, however, look faintly impressed to find him already half hard. He grunts when she tightens her fist around his cock and tugs up experimentally. Her eyes flick up to his as he hardens against her palm, going from half to fully hard in one stroke. He bites the inside of his lip, unsure if he should be embarrassed at how quickly his body responds to her touch. Her eyes don't leave his as she rips the condom open with her teeth. She smirks when his cock twitches in her closed fist. Her eyes are bright and he can't tear his away as he feels her slowly roll the latex over his uncut head. When her hand stops at his pelvis she gives the base of his cock a little squeeze and he shudders from his spine to his shoulders. He doesn't miss the way her bright eyes flicker, enjoying having him at the mercy of her touch. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying it too.

She releases his cock to scoot forward, pressing her palm down flat in the middle of his chest as she pushes up, positioning herself over him. Her other hand lines his cock up with her entrance, and then she slowly sinks down, engulfing him in her tight heat. His breath bowls out of him like he's been punched the moment his bulging cockhead pops through her quivering hole. He feels every inch of her pulsing inner walls as she drags down his throbbing length until he's buried fully inside her.

Of their own accord, his hands slide up her thighs and dig in to her firm, rounded ass. She lets out a little moan when he pulls her cheeks apart and fucks up into her just as she grinds down. He hits something deep inside her that makes her walls clench and shudder around him. Each shudder travels from her cunt, through his dick and up his spine in a full body tremor.

He's never had sex that sent currents of pleasure running through his entire body before. He didn't know you _could_ have sex that made you feel anything anywhere other than your dick. Sex with Beth is a revelation, redefining his understanding of the concept by the second.

His eyes are locked on her face, avidly watching her lips as they fall apart. Her eyelids are closed, fluttering with each rock of her hips as she chases her release.

Finding a rhythm, she rocks back and forth, slower than last time, arching her spine so that his dick presses against the back of her pulsing clit.

She's a vision as she writhes above him, sucking all of the tension out of his body through her magic cunt.

He reaches up and palms her breasts with both hands, catching her nipples between his fingers and drawing them out. Her breath hitches and her eyelids raise to half mast, revealing pupils blown wide as she glances down her nose at him. Her hands drift from his chest to his biceps and he flexes them for her benefit beneath her digging fingertips.

Her hips become more frenzied as he squeezes her tits again, harder this time, circling his huge thumbs over her hard nipples. A tremor runs through her walls suddenly, her rhythm falters and her fingernails dig angry crescent moons into his arms.

Her eyes lock with his and burn as she starts to come. She comes hard, pussy walls clamping down around his dick like as vice. On a gasp, her mouth stretches open in a silent scream. Feeling Beth's climax shuddering against his dick sends Daryl tumbling over the edge.

As his orgasm flies through him he surges up and grabs her by the back of the neck, crashing their mouths together and pouring a broken moan down her throat.

The aftershocks of his orgasm turn his bones to liquid and he slumps back heavily onto the mattress. Beth follows, bracing her hands on either side of his head. For a moment they just pant into each other's mouths, eyes glazed over in a fucked out haze. He watches as her eyes slide into focus, staring at him for a split second before she leans back.

He shudders as she slowly lifts herself off his cock and steps off the bed onto wobbly legs. His head is spinning as she pulls himself up, planting his feet on the floor and dragging his jeans up, forsaking the belt for now.

He watches her smooth the silky fabric of her chemise over her upper thighs in rapt fascination.

When her eyes slide up and catch his he's still staring.

 _This part sucks._

"M'Sorry," He murmurs, as he averts his eyes. The voice that crawls out of his throat is low and rough, "You didn' want no kissin', right?"

His mouth twists, knowing he's broken one of her rules. Knowing she might not want to do this against because of it. That would really suck.

"It's alright," She whispers back, levelling him with her cool blue gaze, "Better that than you wakin' up the whole cell block."

Maybe she's just loose from her orgasm but she doesn't look like she minds it and Daryl decides to take a chance.

"Does than mean you'll let me do it again?" He asks, keeping his voice low.

Beth frowns, "What?"

"Kiss you," He blurts out, before he loses his nerve.

Beth's eyes widen in surprise for a moment.

"If you want to," She shrugs, letting her gaze wander and catching her bottom lip between her teeth.

 _Permission granted. No time like the present._

Daryl throws an arm around her waist, dragging her to him. Her mouth falls open as she takes a sharp intake of breath, bright eyes flaring with surprise. He covers her open mouth with his, sliding his tongue between her parted lips. She moans softly, her eyes fluttering closed as he strokes her hot tongue with his. She pushes up on her tip toes, pressing their mouths together and drawing him further into hers. His other hand comes up to cup her jaw, tilting her face up, drunk on the sweet wet heat of her mouth. He started it but she sure seems determined to finish it, digging her teeth into his bottom lip and drawing it out, pulling a moan from his throat that she swallows with her mouth. She kisses him senseless, her mouth as unrelenting as her cunt, which should come as no surprise at all.

Her hands come up to fist in his hair hard enough to make his scalp sing and a low groan crawl up the back of his throat into hers. When he licks his tongue back into her mouth to keep tasting her, desperately drinking down anything he can get, she wraps her lips around his pink muscle and sucks. She sucks hard and his dick throbs with what she's doing and what she _could_ do with those lips wrapped around his cock. He isn't sure he could handle it. It's entirely possible he'd pass out. He doesn't recognise the whimper that passes from his mouth into hers when they part gasping for breath.

Beth swallows audibly in the heavy silence of his cell. She looks a little flustered; her cheeks flushed and lips bitten pink. His dick aches knowing he's the one who did that to her, or _with her_ at the very least.

She looks at him intently for a long moment, almost like she's going to kiss him again, but instead turns her body towards the door.

"Good night," She whispers.

There's a twist in the pit of his stomach as he finds himself not wanting her to go. Instead, he finds himself wanting to grab her and throw her back on his cot. Not even to fuck her, just to curl up with her and maybe kiss her again. Feel the warmth of her soft skin under his rough hands. Except that's not what she wants, and she's made that perfectly clear.

She's not here for that.

 _And since when the fuck was he?_

He's pushing his luck as it is.

Daryl nods, bringing his thumb up to his mouth.

"G'night," He murmurs.

 _Stay,_ he almost says, but instead ducks his head and averts his eyes.

"Thanks," He adds sincerely, looking at her again, this time not breaking eye contact. Hoping something in his gaze will say what he won't.

Beth blinks back at him slowly. Then she turns on her heel and she's gone, leaving the curtain to his cell stirring gently, and his heart hammering in his chest.


	3. Speak

It's been almost a week since Beth paid her little midnight visit to Daryl in his cell, and he's spent most of it thinking about her. About that kiss more than anything else. It's the first time he's been kissed like that. Hell, everything with Beth feels like a first. For all the extra years he has on her, he might as well have been born yesterday. They've done nothing to prepare him for the force of nature that is Beth Greene. How is it that he's twice her age but only half as sure of himself? That's it, he thinks, the thing that really gets him going. The way she hunts him down and takes what she wants.

The nights in his cell are the worst- now that she's been in there he swears it smells like her. There's no escaping the hold she has on him. He just lies there staring at the curtain wishing she'd walk through it.

She doesn't.

Instead, he jerks himself off while thinking about her, his fist a poor substitute for her soft hands and dangerously tight cunt.

He doesn't see her much around the prison, which is a blessing and a curse. Girl keeps herself busy wherever the fuck she's hiding. On the occasion that he does see her he finds himself staring intently for a moment before he has to look away. All kinds of forbidden thoughts start racing through his head when he's looking at her. What they've done: the sound of skin slapping on skin in his empty cell, their torsos twisting together tightly, her shuddering pussy walls milking his cock dry. And then his mind takes a dangerous turn and starts thinking about what they _could_ do. What he wants to do to her and have her do to him. It's enough to make his face turn red like he's been drinking. It's enough to make him consider a cold shower.

Today he hasn't seen her at all, spent the day out on a run before coming back and heading up to the watchtower. He doesn't even really need to be up in the tower, since Sasha and Tyrese are walking the fence like they insist on doing every evening. Some shit about earning their keep. He's there because he wants to be alone.

He's more than a little _frustrated_ , and it's making him even more of a jerk than usual. He's been popping off at the Woodbury people right, left and centre. Even before Carol points it out, he knows he's out of line. She tells him to go on a run for cigarettes before he kills someone. Or someone kills him. He doesn't miss the thinly veiled threat in her voice about the latter. If only a cigarette was what he was jonesing for. He's smoked his way through half a pack and he's no better. He's in hell. Now that he knows what it's like to be with Beth he finds himself wanting her _all the damn time_.

He's busy glaring at the treeline when he hears the door open behind him. Slowly, he turns.

Breath stuttering in his chest, his eyes fall on Beth's bouncing ponytail as she pulls the door closed behind her, and lock its.

For a moment she just stands there, beckoning him inside with her eyes.

When she starts to unbutton her shirt he almost trips as he steps through the doorway.

His eyes swing like a magnet to the apex of her thighs as she unfastens her belt and pushes her jeans past her hips. The corner of his mouth pulls up into a smirk when he sees she's going commando, then freezes, his throat going dry when he catches sight of her glistening blonde curls.

Knowing she's been walking around the prison all day without any panties on has his cock hard and straining against his zipper.

When his gaze snaps up to catch hers he finds her eyes rapidly narrowing at his twisted mouth. Kicking her jeans away, she strides forward in just her bra, closing the distance between them.

Daryl's heart skyrockets when Beth gently places both hands on his chest. His eyes are widening up at her in question when all of a sudden she gives him a hard shove, sending him stumbling backwards. He's as solid as they come but he's not expecting it and the impact of her tiny palms is surprisingly forceful. The back of his legs catch on the sofa and he comes down hard into a sitting position. She wastes no time in straddling his lap as he stares up at her in awe. Never in his life has he so enjoyed being knocked on his ass.

The next thing he knows her arms are looping around his neck and crashing their mouths together.

He starts to feel lightheaded as she sucks the breath from his lungs. His hands fly up in search of something to hold on to. They find her ass and cling to her bare cheeks like the edge of a cliff, rough fingertips pushing into her soft skin.

She grinds down, rubbing her naked cunt against the hard seam of his jeans. His aching cock pulses under the friction, denim fast growing damp with the pre cum leaking from his weeping slit. He moans brokenly between her feverish lips; not wanting her to stop but not knowing if he can take much more. She relents, releasing his mouth and pushing up on her knees astride his lap. Filling his lungs with slow, deep breaths, he gazes up at her bee stung lips and darkening eyes. He's noticed that when lost in her arousal and her pupils pool to black, her eyes change colour. He's captivated watching her irises deepen from ocean to midnight blue. His hands settle into their favourite position with his thumbs tracing her protruding hip bones, palms spanning her upper thighs and fingertips curling under the seat of her ass. Beth's eyes drop, bottom lip catching between her teeth as her hands come between them to tug at his belt and pop the button of his jeans.

Daryl grunts as her hand wraps around his already rock hard cock, pulling it out of his jeans with a slow tug. He watches Beth wet her lips and swallow before dropping his gaze to see fresh pre cum pooling at the tip of his swollen cockhead. His eyes swing up to catch hers. Lock and burn with promise. Like a Siren, she's got him under her spell, lost in the choppy undercurrent of her lust, a ready slave to her desires.

Beth blinks slowly and then reaches into her bra, pulling out a condom.

Daryl huffs a laugh. _Where the fuck is she getting them from?_ He makes a mental note to stockpile rubbers on the next run. It shouldn't be just her responsibility keeping his dick covered.

His thoughts are interrupted by a full body shudder and a gasp forcing its way past his lips as Beth rolls the condom down his length and cups his balls.

In the next moment, she's pulling up on his shoulders and hopping down onto his dick, slowly burying him in her slick cunt. Daryl growls, squeezing her ass roughly as he feels the sudden pressure of her clutching hole surround him. His eyes roll back into his head as she starts to move.

Her pace is frenzied like the first time, rubbing up and down his dick so fast he can't catch his breath.

"Jesus, Beth," He groans, "You tryin'a kill me?"

Her hand slams down over his mouth, silencing him as she continues to bounce up and down in his lap.

He turns his head, shaking her hand away.

"Naw, you need to hear it, girl," He grunts breathlessly, "Need to know what ya do t' me."

She tilts her head to the side as she slams down, and his eyes screw shut with a broken moan.

When he peels them back open she's watching his face intently. She moves her hips up and down rapidly, pumping his cock until its fit to burst.

" _Fuck,"_ He hisses, clenching his jaw as fights back his release.

 _"_ Say my name," Beth's voice, low and commanding, snaps him back into consciousness. __

_"Beth,"_ He croaks, staring up at her as she moves above him.

"I want you to beg," She tells him, eyes dancing with something like excitement.

His brow furrows in confusion, "What?"

"Beg me to let you come," She whispers huskily, riding his dick so hard he can hardly breathe let alone speak.

When he hesitates her hips slow to a shallow, agonising rock.

 _Fuck_.

"Please, girl. _Beth_. Please," He murmurs, hips bucking up desperately.

"What do you want?" She breathes against his temple, starting to move faster but just shy of what he needs.

"I wanna come," He blurts out shamelessly.

"How bad?" She teases, pushing her chest against his, nipples tight under her bra.

Daryl moans, puffing his chest out to press against hers.

"Really fuckin' bad," He growls, thighs trembling with physical frustration.

"Why should I let you?" Beth whispers, arching her back to grind her clit against his pubic bone and thrust her chest into his.

"'Cause _fuck_ I'll do anythin'. _Anythin,"_ He grates out, shuddering as she toys with his release.

He can feel Beth smiling against his brow. Knows she's loving it from the way her walls tighten and tremble around him.

"Oh God, Beth, please," He begs, "Please let me come."

Suddenly her fingers curl tightly around his shoulders and her spine arches violently as her orgasm crashes into her.

"Daryl," She gasps, " _Come for me_."

And he does. He comes so hard he thinks he feels his soul leave his body as their torsos twist and Beth's cunt quivers around his howling cock. He feels his orgasm everywhere at once, setting every cell in his body alight before leaving him in ashes.

He watches, enraptured, as Beth's eyes fall closed and her jaw trembles with the desperate moan that rips its way out of her throat. She _keens_ as her orgasm spikes and shudders, hands coming up to fist in his hair. When she's finished she rests her forehead against his for a moment as the aftershocks trickle through their spent bodies.

He tries not to move, not wanting to spook her, enjoying the silence and the stillness but for their thundering heartbeats. He knows it's over when he feels the muscle tension return to her body. She lifts herself off his cock shakily, and he keeps his hands firmly on her hips until her feet are solidly planted on the ground. Both because he doubts her ability to stand, _'cause he fucking can't_ , and because he doesn't want to stop touching her.

With his head bowed he watches her step away and start to dress. He doesn't move except to tuck his cock into his jeans. Biting his lip, he watches her pulls her jeans up over her glistening cunt. If it affected him to think of her walking about the prison with no panties on, the thought of her walking around with her cunt gaping and wet from his dick is sweet torture.

When her cowboy boots are scuffing the floor in front of him he reluctantly lifts his gaze.

She's staring at him intently with cheeks sinfully flushed and eyes bright but wary.

 _He hates this part,_ he thinks as his stomach slowly twists, the only part of his body with any tension after his prolonged orgasm steamrolled all of his muscles.

"I best be gettin' back," She says and he wonders if he imagines the hint of reluctance he hears in her voice.

Daryl nods, cautiously meeting her gaze through his hair. He suddenly feels like he's been flayed.

"Thank you," He says, his voice embarrassingly thick and sincere.

A small smile plays on her lips for a moment, and then she's leaning forward and pressing those lips against his for a just a split second before pulling back.

His breath hitches as she turns and his eyes follow her bouncing ponytail across the room and out of the door.


	4. Hold

In the prison yard, Daryl is stooped under the hood of a car steadily getting smeared with oil. He's fighting with the beat up old banger trying to remove the spark plugs and find the one that's worn out. Well, he _was_. He hasn't been doing jack shit since Beth stepped out onto the lawn wearing the tiniest pair of jean shorts he's ever seen.

It must be one of the days where Beth and Rick swap places. He takes care of Judith while she tends to the crops in some kind of post apocalyptic job share.

Daryl is mesmerised just watching her move around the trellises with the casual confidence of someone who knows how to make things grow. In the same way that Daryl hunts like he breathes, farming is in Beth's blood and she comes alive in the garden. Where Rick spends an ample amount of time gazing into the distance, Beth never stops moving.

She doesn't shy away from getting her hands dirty either. In fact she seems to revel in it, leaving muddy tracks as she wipes her palms off on her bare thighs. There's a streak of dark soil smeared across the milky skin of her throat that Daryl wants to lick clean with his tongue.

She's wearing a check shirt tied around her waist and when she uses the back of her hand to wipe sweat from her brow it rides up to reveal a glimpse of her toned midriff. She means business with her hair pulled back into a braid, loose curls escaping to frame her pink cheeks.

At one point she turns and bends over, nearly giving Daryl a heart attack as her rounded ass fills out the denim of her shorts.

When Beth gets up and disappears into the tool shed, Daryl drops his wrench clumsily and follows before the door has fallen closed behind her.

Entering the dimly lit shed he stops as she turns and pins him with her sharp blue gaze. The door falls shut behind him, taking with it the sound of the outside and casting them in soft shadows. He just stares at her blankly, chest heaving with his laboured breaths. His legs followed her in here like a dog chasing a car. Now that he's here he doesn't know what to do.

Her head tilts back as she regards him for a moment, gaze drifting up and down his body in a way that makes him nervous and excited at the same time.

"What do you want Daryl?" She asks coolly.

 _Like she doesn't know._

He bites the inside of his bottom lip but he doesn't answer. Can't find the words.

"You come to help with the garden?" She smirks, eyes dropping to the front of his jeans where his cock is visibly straining.

He feels a flush colour his face and neck. His throat is suddenly unbearably dry.

"I'm sure I can find you somethin' to do," She teases, a genuine smile splitting her face, "You want me to put you to work?"

Daryl nods quickly, tongue sliding out to wet his lips. He just wants to be around her, doesn't give a fuck what's involved in truth.

Beth follows the movement of his tongue, her smile faltering. She continues to stare at his mouth for a moment, as if considering something, and then her eyes flick back up to his face.

His heart starts to fly in his chest as she holds his gaze with her piercing blue eyes but he manages to somehow not look away.

The corner of her mouth slides up.

"I've got somethin' you can do," She says in a voice husky enough to make Daryl's balls ache.

In the next moment, her figure is retreating as Beth takes a step back. Her hands fall to her waistband and pop the button of her jeans, causing Daryl's breath to leave him in a rush. His gaze sinks and pools to black as she shimmies the denim over the fullest part of her ass.

Stepping out of her shorts, and panties _God help him_ , she hops up onto the work bench _._ Gripping the edge of the wood, she starts swinging her cowboy boots beneath her idly.

"Come here," She beckons with a jerk of her chin.

Daryl finds himself stumbling forward like he's been pushed.

His hands fall to his belt as he walks towards her

"No," She stops him with her straightened leg, pointed toe knocking his hands away.

His eyes swing up to hers in panic, " _Shit_ , I'm sorry, I thought..."

Beth's lips curl into a dangerous smile, "You can keep 'em on for this."

Leaning back on her hands, she slides her pointed toe up to his shoulder and taps. He glances at the scuffed leather of her boot in confusion before looking back at her expectant face.

Parting her thighs wider, she slides her leg up further, then pulls it back, catching her heel on his shoulder and guiding him down towards her.

He follows, knees buckling and bringing him down to the floor; eye to eye with her naked cunt.

 _What does she want him to... Oh._

His eyes widen and fly up to hers, mouth falling open but no words make their way out.

Beth's lips twitch, seemingly enjoying the sight of him on his knees and flailing before her. She blinks down at him slowly, and just waits.

Daryl swallows, sending an ache down his dry throat towards his thundering chest.

"I never did this before," He murmurs nervously, eyes flicking up to hers, tongue coming out to wet his lips.

Her gaze softens and she cards her fingers through his hair gently.

There's a beat. Then her hand tightens and she's roughly directing his head between her thighs.

He opens his mouth as his nose bumps her mound and closes his lips around the hood of her clitoris. She moans as his teeth gently graze the nub of her swollen sex. His eyes dart up just in time to watch hers flutter closed. Gently, he sucks her into his wet mouth while softly lapping at sensitive flesh. She grunts, shuddering as she rocks forward into his mouth, fingers tightening painfully in his hair. He sucks harder and she keens; a high broken sound that bursts out from her parted lips.

"Oh. S'good, Daryl. Don' stop," She moans breathlessly.

His hands come up to curl around her thighs, mouth unrelenting between them as he nuzzles deeper into her cunt.

He mouths his way hungrily down her slit and pokes his tongue inside her walls, wanting to be everywhere at once.

"Use your _fingers_ ," She groans, dragging him back up to her clit with a rough yank of his hair.

His lips again cover her hood once more, tongue swirling eagerly at her little pink nub, making her thighs shudder wildly beneath his palms.

Tentatively, his rough fingers slide down her soft inner thighs to her centre. His fingertips nudge between her folds and he slides two fingers inside her slick walls. She gasps, her muscles clenching around him like a vice as her hands fist in his hair, prickling his scalp with pain.

He drags his fingers slowly back out, smearing her wetness down her pussy lips before he thrusts them back inside her.

" _Fuck,"_ Beth hisses, walls quavering around his digits and clit pulsing against his tongue.

He does it again. And again, enraptured by the noises he is coaxing out of her with his mouth and his fingers. When he twists inside her, grinding his fingers down to the knuckles, she falls back on her elbows with a low moan. He can no longer see her face where it's fallen back to hang between her shoulder blades. Now all he sees is the rise and fall of her chest and her long slim neck rippling with each moan. From the way she's arched back he can see her nipples pushing up against her flannel shirt with each laboured breath, peaked and straining under the thick fabric. Without her face the noises feel louder somehow, surrounding him; encompassing them both. He drags his tongue in long, hard licks up her clit; massaging her hood with the flat of his tongue and making her walls pulse around his fingers. He feels drunk; every hard earned moan making him dizzier as he drowns himself in her weeping cunt.

Beth is as gone as he is and fast unravelling. She's writhing atop the workbench, hips rocking forward to meet each thrust of his fingers, hands pressing against his skull and smothering him against her clit.

When a tremble passes through her walls she starts to move, fucking up into his face as she chases her release, grinding her clit into his open mouth, sending a mixture of cum and saliva dribbling down his neck. With a drawn out moan her hips suddenly shudder to a stop, back arching violently against the workbench and fingers going loose in his hair.

He doesn't relent, screwing his fingers deeper into her hole and sucking her clit in and out of his mouth until her thighs are shaking around his ears.

"Daryl, _oh my God_ ," She gasps, sounding almost pained and that glimpse of vulnerability pulls a thread that starts to unravel him.

He pulls his fingers out and quickly replaces then with his mouth, licking the cum from her pulsing walls and sucking it straight down until the sides of his throat are thick with it.

Her hands are shaking as they fall to his shoulders, fingers curling not quite pushing him away but close to doing so, as though she isn't sure she can take any more.

His hands slide around to cup her ass, dragging her closer and burying his face in the wet heat of her folds until he can't breathe. His mouth stretches wide as he starts to come, a broken moan spilling against her dripping cunt as his come pools hot and wet down his thigh.

Her walls start to quiver afresh around his tongue, the muscles of her thighs tightening against his jaw as another orgasm rattles through her. His head is spinning from the lack of oxygen and his own release tearing out of him untouched.

He breaks away with a gasp, filling his lungs with ragged breaths. His hands slide down to cup the back of her knees as he falls back on his haunches. The both fight to catch their breath of a moment, filling the small shack with their uneven breathing. His tongue drags across his bottom lip and he catches the taste of her, does it again as he watches her push up on her palms and straighten he spine. The eyes that meet his aren't conscious; glazed over midnight pools that are staring at him but not seeing him at all.

He bites his bottom lip as he looks at her.

She's trembling from her bottom lip to her curled toes. He can feel the vibrations beneath his palms.

His hands curl around her thighs, holding on to that small part of her. He wants to take her in his arms, _all of her,_ and soothe them out of her. He swallows, fighting back the urge because he knows he's not supposed to. _No cuddling._ She made that clear.

Then her fingers tighten their grip on the edge of the workbench like she needs something to hold onto.

 _Fuck it.  
_  
Standing up between her knees, he reaches his arm around her and cradles her to his chest, dropping his chin to rest on her head. After a moment she wraps her arms around his waist. His breath hitches when her arms tighten and she hugs him tight. It's just like when he told her about Zach and his other hand comes up to cup her elbow.

They stay like that, pressed together, long after her trembling subsides. He holds her and she lets herself be held. More than that, she holds on to him and in that moment, being held by her, he feels as though they're connected by more than just limbs.

After a while her arms loosen and then let go of his waist. He straightens up, leaning his head back. When he looks down at her and she looks up at him and their eyes meet it stirs something in his chest that has nothing to do with lust. Her eyes have changed back to sky blue and the expression on her face is almost peaceful.

"Girl, that was fuckin' hot," He rumbles, voice raw enough to make him clear his throat, "You're gon' have to let me do that again."

Beth smiles, and he steps back as she hops down.

"Sure," She says easily, dragging her jeans up her glistening thighs.

"I might even return the favour," She throws over her shoulder as she walks out of door.

"Might even return the..." Daryl repeats in a daze as he stares at the wet patch left on the work bench, "Wait, _what_?"

He starts, whirling and throwing himself out of the door after her.

" _Beth,"_ He calls out, turning his head from side to side as he scans the garden.

But she's already gone.


	5. Stay

Merle would call him a pussy, that's what Merle would do.

His brother would ask him why in the seven hells he's losing sleep over a woman when he should just be grateful he's getting some for the first time in his sorry life.

Merle would say _boy if you're so damn sweet on this girl stop belly achin' an' do somethin about it.  
_  
Daryl finds himself wishing Merle was here so he could tell him to fuck off. He'd give just about anything to see that sorry son of a bitch right now.

He'd be right about one thing: Daryl isn't sleeping. He isn't even trying. Sitting on his bunk with his back against the cold wall, he's grinding his teeth down to the enamel and thinking so hard his head hurts trying to decipher the mystery that is Beth Greene.

Eventually Daryl comes to a decision. The next time Beth comes around looking to use him as her very own personal plaything, he's gonna introduce a few rules of his own.

The sound of bare feet on concrete turns his head. He watches as Beth phases through his privacy curtain, all doe eyes and bare skin, instantly rendering him incapacitated on a cognitive level. Her hair is loose around her shoulders, straighter and smoother than he's ever seen it as though she's been sat brushing it. She's wearing a thin night dress that does little to conceal her peaked nipples, hard and pointed from the cool night air. Even in shadows, her eyes are glowing, reflecting light from somewhere as she fixes him with her penetrating gaze.

His heartrate quickens in anticipation as she reaches the foot of the bed, his breath hitching as he feels the mattress dip. Her eyes never leave his as she stalks towards him on all fours. He releases a shuddering exhale through his nose as her hands fall to his belt, quickly tugging the buckle undone. At some point between her walking into his cell and popping the button on his jeans his dick has grown hard enough to cut glass. He swallows down a whimper as she wraps her delicate fingers around his length and draws him out. His eyes flutter like they want to close as she gives him a gentle pump with her closed fist, making his cock twitch in her grip and sparks dance up his spine. When she finally blinks and lowers her gaze, he drags air into his lungs until they ache.

In the next moment, everything stops. Thought, breath, heartbeat; they are all obliterated as Daryl watches Beth lean forward and wrap her pretty pink lips around the head of his cock.

 _Is she serious?_

 _Here?_

He bites his lip to stifle a deep moan as she runs her tongue along his sensitive slit. His hands twitch at his sides and his hips stutter, suppressing the urge to buck up and bury himself in her throat. His head hits the wall with a hard thud that forces his eyes closed and throbs across the back of his skull. The pain does nothing to dull the bonfire of pleasure that Beth is bestowing upon his dick with her mouth. She's merciless as she alternates between softly lapping at his tip and sucking hard enough to make his spine tingle. The result is overwhelming; pleasure that possesses his body like a demon, making him twist and shake, shudder and moan uncontrollably. He doesn't recognise the sounds coming out of his mouth. If he was able to, he'd worry about Rick on the other side of the wall hearing and coming in to check that he isn't being murdered. But as it stands he can't get a grip of his own breathing, can't control his trembling muscles and can't think about anything beyond Beth's mouth.

Finding the strength to peel his eyes open, he glances down and almost comes down her throat when he finds her hot blue gaze staring back at him. His hand comes up to rest on her back, stroking down her spine and digging his fingertips into her soft skin when she swirls her tongue across his tip.

When their eyes connect and blaze in a white heat, her hips rock forward as though in search of friction. Without thinking he reaches between her legs to give it to her.

He chokes as his questing fingers find coarse hairs instead of panties, causing his dick to throb wildly against her tongue. His fingers trace the soft skin of her slit and tremble as they start to glide through the wetness pooling between her lips. Sinking a finger between them he finds her cunt soaking wet. His tongue slides out to wet his lips, his mouth suddenly dry and gasping.

" _Jesus_ ," He croaks, eyes flicking back to hers in disbelief, "S'this all caus'a me?"

The eyes that meet his are dark and rippling with want.

 _For him._

Beth whines around his cock as his fingertips nudge her swollen hood, sending her hips arching into his hand. The sound of Beth's arousal cracks through him like a whip, sending his blood racing around his body and awakening a desperate primal urge to provide the release she's seeking.

His fingers start to move, rubbing furiously at her clit until she's moaning around his dick, sending a shivers down to his aching balls. He slides his fingers down to her entrance and plunges them inside. Her walls clench around his knuckles and she groans, her low moans vibrating across his cockhead. His hips stutter in response and jerk upwards, fucking deep into her mouth. She gags as his dick hits the back of her throat, blocking her airway.

" _Shit,_ m'sorry," He hisses.

He moves to pull his hips back but Beth hands fist in his jeans, holding him in place. She keeps going, choking herself on his cock as she sucks him deeper. A whimper escapes him as she swallows and the walls of her throat squeeze his cockhead just as her cunt tightens around his fingers. Dragging air through her nose in shallows pants, she bobs up and down on his cock and his fingers, pushing them to their limits. He answers every muffled moan with a louder, increasingly more desperate sound of his own. Each vibration of her mouth against his tender tip is echoed by a tremor of her inner walls. She's close, so close. He screws his fingers in deeper and harder hurtling her towards her release. She sucks him deeper in return, her swollen lips brushing his balls as his cock slides down the back of her throat.

Feeling his orgasm coil close to breaking point, he curls his fingers around her shoulder and jerks his hips back, pulling his cock out of her mouth with a wet pop.

"Was gonna cum," he pants, eyes locking onto the string of saliva linking her parted lips to his swollen tip.

She stares up at him with blown out pupils, her eyes dark and questioning.

"I wanna fuck you," Daryl rasps between ragged pants. " _Please_ ," He adds, voice dripping with desperation as he squeezes the base of his angry red cock.

Wordlessly, Beth stares back at him, face set and serious as she slides backwards off the bed.

Daryl's heart sinks as she turns around. _Shit, now you've really blown it._

He's leaning forward, hand coming up to reach out and stop her from leaving, when she takes a step forward and presses her palms down on his desk.

He freezes as she arches her back, tilting her pelvis so that her bare ass turns up to face him in nothing short of an _invitation._

Slowly, she turns her head to look over her shoulder and catch his gaze. "Well, what are you waiting for?" She asks huskily, the corners of her mouth turning up in a teasing smile.

Daryl is on his feet and shoving his jeans down so fast he almost falls over them.

He places his hands on her outer thighs, enjoying the feeling of her skin hot beneath his palms before he slides them up, pushing her nightdress over her hips. Slowly, he keeps going, up her back and up her shoulders until she tilts her heads and straightens her arms, letting the night dress fall down onto the desk. Looking down, his breath stutters at the miles and miles of perfect skin in front of him. His hands fall to her back, stroking in soft circles before drifting around to cup her small breasts in his huge palms, breathing hard against the back of her neck as her nipples pebble against his hot skin.

Teasing her hard nipple between his fingers in one hand, he uses his other hand to guide his straining cock to the apex of her thighs. When his bulging cockhead brushes her pulsing hole they both inhale sharply, their bodies hot and aching with need. He slowly strokes himself through her wetness to her clit and rubs until her hand flies up and fists in his hair. She pulls him forward, covering her back with his chest until his nose grazes the side of her face.

" _Daryl_ ," She whispers with just enough urgency to make him bury his face in the cradle of her shoulder, arousal pouring down his spine.

He presses his forehead against the back of her neck and plunges his cock inside her. Her cunt is dangerously tight, swallowing him like a vice. He's halfway buried inside her when he finds he can hardly breathe and frantically pushes at her inner thigh for her to part for him. The pressure becomes sweet agony when she parts her legs wider, opening herself and allowing him to thrust all the way inside her.

They've fucked before, but not like this. Not so tight that he can feel every inch of her walls pulsing around him. Not with his chest covering her back and his lips on her neck so that more of their bodies are touching than not. Not in a way that made him feel so _involved._

She's loosened her control on the situation, allowed for something more mutual, and he will make sure she doesn't regret it.

His arms tighten around her and he starts to move.

He jackhammers into her with one arm wrapped around her chest holding her against him, and the other tilting her jaw up so he can kiss her. And he does; with every thrust he moves his lips against hers, sucking her tongue into his mouth and taking everything he can get. She's moving her lips against his, her chest heaving beneath his palm as her hips rock back to meet him.

" _Fuck_ ," She pants against his mouth as he slams into her, forcing their mouths to part on a gasp.

He leans forward, bending her over the desk while keeping himself pressed against her back. Her pussy tremors as his dick presses against the back of her clit.

"Do that again," She gasps, flattening herself against the desk and pushing back against him.

Daryl growls into her throat, mouthing at her collar bone as her inner walls vibrate around him.

"Not gonna do it for long," He grunts, thrusting inside her harder and deeper than before, "If you keep doin' _that."_

He chokes as her walls clench and pulse around him.

"Don't stop," She whispers, arching her spine as another tremor runs through her, "I'm so close. _Oh God_ "

Daryl bites his lip until he tastes copper. He pounds into her, groaning as her walls pulse around him in an almost continuous vibration that he feels at the base of his spine.

Beth's soft moans keep getting higher and more frenzied, her walls clenching him tighter and tighter.

" _Christ_ , girl," He groans against her ear as he drags himself out and drives back into her, sweat trickling down his temple, "You're gonna _ruin_ me."

His eyes screw shut as her pussy clamps down around him and she keens, high and breathless, violently arching back against him. In the next moment, he feels her melt in his arms, her walls releasing him just in time to drag his cock out of her before he comes. As he feels the aftershocks ripple through her body he finally lets go and his orgasm tears through him. A howl spills from his throat into hers as ropes of hot cum gush out of him and down her inner thigh. His head spins, arms tightening around Beth's burning hot body in his arms as his vision flickers black for a moment.

He braces his arms on either side of her as he drags in hard, short breaths that tingle in his lungs. He feels Beth's back expand against his chest as she catches her breath in soft open mouthed gasps. When her breathing has evened out, he straightens up, bringing her with him, his arms still wrapped loosely around her chest. She leans back against his chest, tipping her head back against his shoulder.

Rolling her head to the side, her heavy lidded eyes drift up to his and her mouth pulls into a lopsided smile.

" _Wow,"_ She breathes, blinking heavily.

The eyes that hold his are cracked open and raw, rippling for a long moment before she pulls away.

As Daryl yanks up his jeans, Beth picks her night dress from the desk. When she lifts it towards her head he reaches out and catches her arm.

Her head spins back to look at him over her shoulder, eyes wide with surprise as they connect with his.

His eyes never leave hers as he pulls his red rag from his back pocket and stoops to gently drag it up her inner thigh, wiping his sticky cum from her skin.

He doesn't miss the way her breath hitches as he tenderly brushes her swollen lips, causing her hips to rock back towards him. He presses a kiss to her shoulder, his eyes flickering with all the things he wants to say to her, as he pulls the rag from between her legs and stuffs it into his back pocket.

She doesn't blink as her eyes hold his, soft and open, guard still down but he can feel it coming up as her spine straightens against his chest.

He feels his stomach twist with trepidation, an awareness of their time together starting to draw to a close, and the fact that he really doesn't fucking want it to.

"I don't wanna stop doin' this," he murmurs, stroking her back. The words spill out without him meaning them to, the powerful undercurrent of his emotions starting to seep out through the cracks.

Beth's face tightens into a frown, her eyes growing sad.

"That might not be your choice to make," She says almost flatly, a forced coldness, but it doesn't reach her eyes. With her guard still relaxed he sees a flicker of something like fear behind the steel.

In that moment something clicks and finally, he gets it. How could he have been so blind? All these barriers. Keeping him at arm's length. She doesn't want to get attached in case he _dies_ the way people so easily do now. Like a whole bunch of people she cared about; her mama, brother, boyfriend. Lori. Her daddy, almost. She doesn't want to lose anyone else. He gets it. A coping mechanism she's constructed in order to make it in this world.

You can't lose what isn't yours.

"Girl, I ain't goin' anywhere," He huffs, his face twisting with something like offence at the very notion, "If my own Pa couldn't kill me it's gonna take more'n some other brainless, stumblin' bastard to put me down."

Beth's frown is smoothed out as her eyebrows float up towards her hairline, visibly taken aback. He leans back, giving her room as she turns to face him, her hands falling to grip the edge of the desk.

"We ain't just survivin' no more," He says earnestly, voice softer as he rests his hands on either side of hers, "We're livin' an' I ain't plannin on dyin' any time soon."

Beth shakes her head, "You don't get to decide-"

"I do. I do get to," He cuts her off sharply, "I'm choosin' to live and so did you, back on the farm."

Beth inhales sharply, her grip on the edge of the desk tightening, but she continues to hold his gaze, her expressive eyes flooding with emotions that he can't name.

Daryl sighs, feeling the air between them teeter on the edge of something hostile. "I want more'n this," He confesses, his voice a hoarse whisper as his thumbs gingerly stroke across her knuckles, "More'n just a quick fuck every now and then."

Relaxing her grip on the desk, Beth's eyes soften back at his.

"I want you in my bed," Daryl murmurs, his hands circling her wrists, "An' not jus' cause you're a firecracker in the sack. It ain't about that."

He feels Beth's pulse quicken against his palms. "What's it about?" She whispers.

Daryl worries his bottom lip, his throat squeezing tight and threatening to close.

 _Don't be a pussy,_ Merle snaps.

"S'about wantin' to hold you after," He blurts out, surprising them both. "An' fall' asleep with you," He continues, hands sliding up to cup her elbows, "Hell, I wanna wake up with you."

Beth is staring at him, seemingly frozen in place until she sways a little closer. Daryl tilts his head down as she turns hers up, bringing their faces barely an inch apart.

"I want mornin's, an' nights an' everythin' in between," He rumbles, "I want _you,_ Beth."

 _"Daryl…"_ She warns, her breath fluttering across his lips.

"Will you stop bein' so _goddamn_ stubborn an' jus' let me care about you?" He growls, accent growing thick with his anger.

Beth leans back against the desk, her eyes flaring with surprise.

His heart is pounding; scared he's pushed her too far. Then her mouth twitches and she suddenly blinks like she's fighting back tears, her eyes deep and shining.

"What if you die?" She whispers, her arms crossing as she wraps them around herself.

His hand comes up to cup her face, fingers curling into the soft space under her jaw as his rough thumb brushes her cheekbone.

"What if I _don't_?" He asks on a held breath, lip catching between his teeth as her head sags against his palm.

He can see her wrestling with it; brows knitting together over her deep blue eyes, trembling with emotions she can no longer contain.

"Jesus, Beth, I'm crazy about you," He sighs, "You're all I can think about."

The tension stretches unbearably tight for one fraught moment, his heart crawling into his throat as she stares back at him, her eyes suddenly glazing over. She doesn't blink, she doesn't breathe.

And then she surges forward, closing the distance between them and claiming his mouth in a fierce kiss. Her hands fly up to fist in his shirt, dragging him closer as she moves her mouth against his hungrily, biting his lips in her desperation. He lets out the breath he's been holding, riding on a moan out of his chest into hers and taking the unbearable tightness with it.

When they finally break apart, she presses her forehead against his, brushing their noses together as they pant sharply into each other's mouths. "I think about you too," She whispers against his lips, "What it'd be like to stay. What it'd be like to wake up with you."

Daryl's heart stutters.

"Wanna find out?" He asks, tipping his head back to meet her eyes with his own tentatively imploring gaze.

She draws in a trembling breath and pushes it out across his jaw. Blinking slowly, her eyes take on the calmness of still water and her lips curl into a small smile.

" _Yes_." 


End file.
